Pink Katydid Spotted In Lake County Forest Preserve

This pink katydid was spotted in the Middlefork Savanna forest preserve near Lake Forest. (Credit: Lake County Forest Preserve District)

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (CBS) — A rare pink katydid was spotted recently in a forest preserve in Lake County, and there may be more where it came from.

As WBBM Newsradio 780’s John Cody reports, Allison Frederick, an environmental communications specialist for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, told Chicago Wildlife News she spotted the bubble gum-pink insect while hunting for dragonflies as she led a “Phenology and Photography” workshop last month.

Katydids normally live their lives looking green and thin like leaves, Frederick explained. Thus, she doesn’t think being pink would do much for their longevity.

“It limits it greatly. You know, I saw it from 10 feet away, because everything around it was green. It’s so green out there, and this is so very pink that I can’t imagine a bird flying past and not notifying it as well,” she told WBBM Newsradio.

Some katydids are pink rather than green due to erythrism, a gene mutation that changes the pigment, Chicago Wildlife News explained. About one in 500 of the insects is affected, the news source said.

Frederick found the pink katydid in the Middlefork Savanna near Lake Forest, and said she found another one had been reported there four years ago.